452 words on: Is copywriting still relevant?

Can't Ai do it?

All those things that I saw as a kid in cartoons are now becoming a reality. Robots are coming to life. Cars that can drive themselves. Bots that you can have intelligent conversations with. Tools that allow you to code in English. AI is here, developing at an exponential rate.

It was 4:33 AM. My daughter had kept me awake for most of the night. But, as I lay there with her finally asleep in the cot: my mind kept racing. I decide to read myself to sleep. My hand drifted out towards my table and brought back “The Copy Book” (Taschen). It’s a collection of essays on copywriting by some of the greatest copywriters to live. One of the contributors asks if copywriting is still relevant. So much for sleep. Now, my mind began flying. “Stop!” I said. It flew higher and faster. Will this technology, that I grew up dreaming about, take away the things that I love the most? Will it really be the end of creativity? My mind started a whispered chant:

In the world of AI, is copywriting a relevant skill? In the world of AI … … …

AI can do the research. It can write in the prescribed tone and the desired language. It understands business goals and outcomes. ChatGPT, Claude, Llama, Grok… these are all competent bots. You give the prompt. AI gives to copy.

But, competence is not enough. They cannot understand emotions. We barely understand our emotions, and our psychology. Though “humanness” is difficult to quantify or codify, we have an innate understanding of it. We experience heart-wrenching sorrow. We feel thrill, joy, and bliss. The same thing that can make us laugh, can also make us cry (and nobody knows why! I coudn’t resist the rhyme, it makes me fly high.). I think you get the point. We are easy, simple, complex, and complicated all in the same package.

An AI bot working on human solutions is as good as bringing a knife to a gunfight. An AI bot is an incredibly sophisticated LED light system (the smart kind). What’s happening inside a human brain is nothing short of a wildfire. It’s unpredictable. It’s fickle. It’s untamed.

Fight fire with fire. Appeal to humans, by being human. You can outsource a lot of work to AI, but “you cannot outsource soul” (quote: Jesse Itzler). Using words and language to capture attention, and sell your idea or point of view is a learnable process. A learnable process that can deliver magical results.

The chanting has stopped. It’s almost 7 AM. The sun’s showing signs of coming out. From my window, I can see stillness.

I need to catch up on my sleep.